The National Universities Commission (NUC) has issued a directive discrediting cross-border part-time universities education and online degrees, saying many of them do not meet up with the required template constituted by the quality assurance department of the Commission.
The NUC also says that henceforth such certificates would not be recognised as a means of seeking employment or doing other legitimate businesses in Nigeria.
The Commission slammed Maryam Abacha American University in Niger Republic, saying it has not followed due process in ensuring that the standard required for professional studies and applied sciences are sustained.
“Our investigation has shown that the Maryam Abacha American University in Niger Republic offers Nursing, medical and laboratory sciences for four semesters, for a course that in Nigeria would take minimum of five years and maximum of six years before the candidate graduates from school. Emphatically, medical and laboratory sciences and engineering are not offered on part-time basis in Nigeria.
“We wish to restate that as the only quality assurance department for universities in Nigeria, the NUC is maintaining its stand that the degrees from Maryam Abacha American University in Niger Republic would not be accepted in Nigerian university,” the Commission directed.
The NUC, which also discredited all part-time cross-border education in Nigeria, therefore warned citizens against patronising online universities that offer academic programmes without physical contact with their students.
Ibrahim Usman Yakasai, the Commission’s director of information and public relations, made the announcement at a press briefing in Abuja, against the backdrop of some foreign universities that placed advertisements and admit students from Nigeria.
According to him, the Nigerian Constitution has no backing or recognition for such degrees obtained online, insisting that students look for cheap means of acquiring qualifications to avoid competition at home.
“Nigeria will not recognise online degrees. Online degrees are not accepted in Nigeria at the moment; the Nigerian Constitution does not even give recognition to such degrees. Those who ran out of Nigeria for study outside this country are those looking for cheaper degrees. It is either they cannot pass the examinations or they do not possess the minimum entry qualifications,” he said.
On the same vein, Bello Kumo, director of quality assurance, NUC, urged parents and guardians to take advantage of huge opportunities presented by the 61 private universities in Nigeria, saying 90 percent of them were under-subscribed.
According to Tolu Odugbemi, vice chancellor, Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH), “this trend is worrisome and represents a huge task before the administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
The president must arrest the situation, if it hopes to produce viable future for the productive youths of the country.”
Odugbemi is pained that fake foreign universities are profiting from Nigeria’s ill-equipped institutions, as Nigerian youths pay whopping sums as tuition to such mushroom and fake universities.
The university don observed that this current situation was threatening the future development of education in the country and expect the Federal Government to put a system in motion to stem the tide.
Harrison Edeh, Abuja
